“Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.”  Luke 6:36

Mercy, the greatest gift one can show another and none could ever come close to the kind of mercy Jesus shows and has shown.

Likewise no mercy will ever compare to the mercy shown us when He took our place on the cross and took all the punishment, pain, and torture for the wrong of all mankind.

The age-old term of “mercy me” literally meaning “have mercy on me” and the dictionary meanings are many a splendid thing :), words such as “benevolence”, “compassion”, “kindness”, “forgiveness”, and the mac daddy of them all is “forbearance”

Which means to tolerate beyond any reasonable expectation the behavior of another, and can be equated also to what Jesus spoke of when He said, “And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.” 

Which means in Old English means two, but for the record Jesus didn’t speak Old English, of course being God He certainly can speak any language He wants, but I point that out also in this mercy post, because they are some who get really upset if you leave out a “thee” or “thou” when trying to relay messages from the word.

Dealing with that issue really teaches the double edge of mercy.

Being merciful in not brow beating another for an innocent infraction and flip it over and forbear when we are browbeaten for that misquote. 

We seem to be running a little crazy  in society right now, we have mercy only in the areas that mean something to us.

I am so thankful that so many have joined the causes of anima rights and believe wholeheartedly in that and believe that God’s word is very clear on HIS thoughts on the subject, since the angel in the Bible story that you can read in the link above, clearly expressed great anger to the wicked Balaam because he had beat the donkey, so I certainly do not want to dismiss mercy shown by ANYONE to ANYTHING because the world needs help in ALL areas.

But I do not understand how people can feel that strongly and protective of the others of God’s creation and how they can literally fight for the environment, I firmly believe in and support that also, I have never written on it but think about these words from Revelation 11:18, it deals with the wrath of God and the ends goes like this “…and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.”

It was all gifted to us from God and we have destroyed it and ourselves through wickedness.

But I fail to understand how one can love the trees, the wilderness, flowers, and butterflies and yet have no problem whatsoever with the slaughter of millions of babies, our own species, a year.

And I can’t understand how anyone in the name of science can say they want to cure diseases and save lives and find cures and yet can be so evil and unmerciful to torture animals in researching those cures and even worse the cosmetic industry, like, “Oh, I love your long lashes, wonder how many animals were blinded in the process of coming up with that lengthening formula?

Certainly can’t understand the concept, which can be pretty predominant in certain crowds of  “don’t kill those babies, but string that murderer up” folks, we can’t have both.

And I will show you why in just a bit.   

As a society these lines are becoming more and more blurred and the fight for  perceived mercy and acceptance toward some is causing absolute merciless and hatred spewed at others that have different thoughts on the subject at hand.

What is this leading up to?

Well, often the thought is the ends justify the means and people can become absolutely obsessed with their “cause” so much so, that cause becomes more of a militant mission and what can start off as a heart in the right place can turn very dark when met with anger and intolerance from the opposition, Regardless of what those disagreements pertain to.

Because right and wrong can only be truly measured by the Word Of God and His standards of behavior and justice, everything else is OUR human opinions and PERSONAL standards. 

Often the wrong teachings of Him as hostile, and wanting to torch everyone has left many wide open to the tricks and snares of the devil and they run AWAY from God because they have seen things from those who profess Christ, that are in NO WAY true representations of Jesus Christ.

As my favorite saying goes, “All that glitters is not gold” and just because someone says that are a “Christian” does in no way mean that they are following Christ.

Jesus told us that we would know them by their fruit a good tree can not bear bad fruit nor a bad one good, so we KNOW by their actions, which truly speak louder that words, where they really stand with God.

The devil can quote Bible scripture, he tried to use them against Jesus when Jesus was in the wilderness for forty days, he knows more about the word, probably than many of us, because he has been around since creation.

And the Bible gives us warning after warning about “false preachers'” and “false teachers” and those who are “wolves in sheep clothing” the devil himself, we are told, “can transform into an angel of light” and that “IF it were possible”, the very elect, God’s CHOSEN “would EVEN be deceived” but God will not allow that.

So when people fall to the wrong beliefs and TURN on God this is what FILLS that place in their heart and soul that should be filled by Him.

Romans 1:22, 28-32: “Professing THEMSELVES to be wise, they became fools.

And even as they did NOT like to retain God in their knowledge, God GAVE them over to a reprobate MIND, to do those things which are NOT convenient (fitting);  

BEING FILLED WITH ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; FULL of envy, murder, debate (strife), deceit, malignity (evil-mindedness),whisperers,

Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful (violent), proud, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents. 

WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING, covenantbreakers, WITHOUT natural affection, implacable (unforgiving), UNMERCIFUL;

Who KNOWING the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.”

Sound familiar? If not, try turning on the television sometimes and check out the news and you will see plenty of it.

Mercy is OUR choice and once we lose sight of just what mercy entails will are in for a world of hurt. 

Mercy and truth co-exist and you can not truly have one without the other.

Psalm 85:9-13: “Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land. 

Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. 

Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase.

Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set US in the way of his steps.” 

Hopefully you can see by the bold and underlined where this is going,  once mercy comes into play it brings forth truth because in order to show mercy we must look at our own actions and based on the GOLDEN RULE X2 we realize many truths.

Especially the endless mercies that God has shown us in our lifetimes. Mercy and truth help produce righteousness (right-standing with God) and peace, that peace that also allows for that forbearing mercy.

Then we can be blessed of God and he will direct our paths in Him.

So whether it is resisting the temptation to spread some juicy gossip, or the need to take ten and calm down that last nerve someone is getting on, or being proactive in choices that represent your conviction of mercy, or even as a far greater act of mercy, when it is in your power, one form or another to destroy another person, be it their reputation, their job security, or whatever it may be and you choose NOT to, because THAT is the kind of mercy Jesus has shown us,.

He could have destroyed this entire universe and simply spoke another into existence. He could have left us all to die in our sins, He could have chosen NOT to cast those forgiven sins “into the sea of forgetfulness” and He could have reminded us every single day of what we had done wrong.

But He doesn’t, and our sins, once forgiven are “as far as the east is to the west”.

And mercy is what He expects us to show if we EXPECT mercy from Him.

He is just and absolutely fair in His judgments toward us and we truly are returned what we are willing to give another, with no room for self-righteous condemnations of others.

Just as the story of the Pharisee  and the tax collector  Luke 18:10-14, the Pharisee was all up on himself TELLING God how fabulous he had been and how much better he was than “THAT tax collector” and tax collector confessed his sins and ASKED for mercy and Jesus commended Him in His Word, that he was the one that actually was right with God that day. 

What counts with God is the things that NO ONE sees, that is just as important, being diligent when no one else even knows, because someone DOES KNOW and that someone is God. So go that extra mile even when you don’t feel like it, look over thoughts and actions that you may not necessarily agree with when there is nothing to be harmed by looking over that.

Be merciful at every opportunity, to give love, kindness, and show mercy, even in the little things, don’t get mad at the dog, don’t squish that bug just because it is there, don’t throw out the cat, don’t punish your child out of simple anger, the things we put so much stock in is not even going to matter in the end.

All that is going to matter is the choices you have made, not that society made for you, but you made for yourself.

I told you I’d show you why, Psalm 18:24-26: “Therefore the Lord hath recompensed me  according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. 

With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright:

With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; with the froward (devious) thou wilt shew thyself froward (shrewd).” 

He WILL mirror back to use our own image in these things and sometimes that is not very pretty, we NEED all the mercy we can get.

James 2:12,13:” So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. 

For he shall have JUDGEMENT WITHOUT MERCY, THAT HATH SHEWED NO MERCY; AND MERCY REJOICETH AGAINST JUDGEMENT..” Which means mercy is gentle, kind, and forgiving and does NOT seek retaliation or to harm simply because it is socially acceptable to do so.

Such as, in my state, it was perfectly legal  for a man to beat his spouse until the nineteen eighties, but do you think this made it okay?

Do you think that God is going to look over that if they do not repent?

No, He is not, just because we “can” do something does NOT make it right.

But how many guys do you think probably took full advantage of that “right” to abuse spouses, run roughshod over families, destroy lives, and be cock of the roost.

My point. and will end it right here:

Hosea 6:6: “ For I DESIRED mercy (faithfulness) , and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.“

Thanks for reading! Thanks for your patience with me and thank you to my followers, I appreciate every single person who takes time out of their life to read this blog. God bless you till next time! Love & Peace! Φλογιζω NBJ 2019    

Original post date : 03/05/2019 REVISTED & links added  07/26/2022  Rev. N. Brown Johnson